Independents Day

With only a few days remaining until we cast our votes in the council, european and by-elections some decisions need to be made.

It is clear that the mainstream political parties in this country are a complete shower of muppets. They play their political games, unleashing ill-conceived policies on an electorate which they hope is too stupid to bother informing themselves. The only thing these politicians can agree on is that they want to preserve the status quo. They want to continue to screw the taxpayer for as much as they can. They want their huge salaries, ridiculous expenses and generous
pensions to remain intact while they wage a war of financial terror on the rest of us poor pixie Irish.

It is also clear that the choice of candidates in all the forthcoming elections is extremely limited. Whether you vote Funny Gael, Lie-bore Party, Fianna Fool or Green Sleeven Party you effectively end up with the same thing representing you - another party hack who will put the needs of their party and their own political progression before those of their constituents.

With this in mind I would urge people to consider the independent candidates in their areas. I watched Vinny Brownetrousers' show on TV3 last night which featured three independent candidates for the Dublin South by-election. I will make no further mention of Noel Car Park O'Gara's candidature other than to say that the clown deserves no further mention. However the other two candidates certainly have something to offer a disenchanted electorate.

Ross O'Mullane and his unitedminds concept is offering an alternative to our current corrupt political system. His proposed system, like his website, is far from polished, however, the guy deserves some credit for suggesting some imaginative reforms of our current shambolic implementation of democracy.

The last of the three candidates, Frank O'Gorman, came across as an ordinary bloke who has had his fill of corrupt politicians and the destructive effect they have on the lives of ordinary people.

These people may not be seasoned political performers and may have been slightly intimidated by Vinny Brownetrousers' confrontational style of questioning, however they seemed to be speaking from the heart (not from any party political hymnsheet).

Now some of the self-styled political know-alls over on Politics.ie like to criticise the performances of these independent crusaders. Well criticise away you asshats! These candidates don't have access to teams of spin doctors. They may not to be able to afford the ridiculous airbrushed posters. They may not be comfortable engaging in Mary Lou Hasn'tGotAClue McDonald style waffle-fests. But at least they are not selling their souls (and those of their constituents) so they may serve "the party". I am sure there are independent candidates up and down the country of whom the same can be said.

So I appeal to the people of Ireland who are sick and tired of our current colonies of political bacteria to register their discontent in the forthcoming elections. Please use your vote. Use it to elect an indepentent candidate and send a message to the arrogant political parties. Let them see that we have had enough of their corruption and dishonesty.

Again I urge you to use your vote! In a worst case scenario your independent TD, councillor or MEP turns out to be a lying, money-grabbing toe rag. So what? That's what you would have been guaranteed anyway had you elected a party serving hack!

DarkPassenger's idea of the month award goes to these guys for finally coming up with a productive use for politicians. Bravo gentlemen!